G DOT PUBLISHING VENTURES LLC
WELCOMES YOU TO THE SPIRITUAL BLOG
FINDING GOD ON THE TRAIN -
NOTES ON ENLIGHTENMENT
Quest For A Positive, Personal Spirituality
UPDATE ON FGOTT MEMBERSHIP
ESTABLISHING A MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION,
THE REGISTRATION PROCESS
ALL EFFECTIVE MAY 2018
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WELCOME ALL PROSPECTIVE MEMBERS OF THE NEXT EVOLUTIONARY STEP OF THE FINDING GOD ON THE TRAIN - NOTES ON ENLIGHTENMENT BLOG
Hello, my name is George Bryant Cronk (nickname G.) and I welcome you to the next phase in the evolution of the popular blog FINDING GOD ON THE TRAIN - NOTES ON ENLIGHTENMENT - Quest For A Positive, Personal Spirituality accessible here on Typepad
www.FindingGodOnTheTrain.com
This is the original Finding God On The Trian - Notes On Enlightenment site, as many of you - who have been followers for years - are well aware, which has for the past ten years published over 1300 FGOTT Blog Posts, Affirmative Thoughts, Meditation Guidance, Poems, and Prayers, along with numerous book chapter drafts and edits.
Yet, it is now time for the Finding God On The Train blog to evolve, with a part of this evolution being the adaptation of our current TypePad infrastructure fostering our growth and expansion for the next decade while supporting our move to a Membership/Subscription offering.
Given the substantial amount of content on this, the original Finding God On The Trian - Notes On Enlightenment blog site, I wanted to maintain the current site, but add a newer up to date Typepad based Member Site going forward.
As a companion to this site and a next step, I have created an additional account here on TypePad, a sort of connected sister site with a similar feel and look, with easy access to all of the content of the past decade, serving as an FGOTT MEMBER ONLY blog for those who wish to remain active, receive current blog posts, and move into the future with this blog's message. This blog is titled NOTES ON ENLIGHTENMENT - THE FGOTT QUEST CONTINUES and is a private, membership-based subscription site. More details on this in a moment. This new blog is located at
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http://notesonenlightenment.typepad.com/my-blog/
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Both this original FGOTT blog and the newly created membership blog site, are now sponsored and managed by G DOT PUBLISHING VENTURES LLC, the New Thought publishing company I recently founded in Staunton, VA to promote the inspired message of Finding God On TheTrian - Notes On Enlightenment. For more information about G DOT PUBLISHING VENTURES, please feel free to email us at
gdotpublishingventurs@gmail.com
Since this conversion is taking place now, the decision to subscribe and become a member is primarily a consideration for current followers of this blog. So my initial assumption is that I am addressing potential members and subscribers of FGOTT (Finding God On The Train) as it transitions to a private membership blog.
As a current follower of Finding God On The Train, I will also assume you are well aware of the content and the message of the blog, trying to keep the redundancy at a minimum, saving most of the background info later in the discussion. Yet some of what I am about to say might be redundant, but I ask you to read on anyway, in hopes that you will understand my motivation for making this transition.
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WHY CHANGE AFTER ALL THESE YEARS?
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It was 2009, when I turned to my wife, Ann, and conveyed to her that I felt called to write a book titled Notes On Enlightenment, based on the inspired thoughts I was receiving, while meditating on my long train commutes into Washington, DC. It is at these moments when having a supportive partner can change your life. She listened, and slowly said to me; "why don't you consider starting with a blog." Blogs, at the time, were gaining in popularity, offering a novel way to have an interactive website. Later the same week, in a related discussion, Ann came up with a name for the blog – offering – “how about Finding God On the Train."
Ann was suggesting that a blog would allow me to test the waters, determining the interest in such a spiritual topic. I went to the bookstore, purchased three books that explained how to create a blog. After a slow start, and much floundering, I decided to use an emerging Blog service - TypePad - and over the years my readership has grown beyond my original expectations.
At some point since my early 2009 posts, you may have started reading my Finding God On The Train - Notes On Enlightenment blog posts, either as they were first published on Typepad or on WordPress, later Facebook, and finally on Twitter. Or, you may have started receiving emails of my posts via a free subscription thru the Google-based FeedBurner email service.
As I approach the tenth year of Finding God On The Train's blog existence, after publishing 1300 plus blog posts; having spent a sizeable part of my creative life writing and publishing the spiritual content now available on this blog, I have decided to take a significant step forward, moving from the current open access structure, to a subscription-based membership blog.
As the blog’s audience has expanded, into the thousands, the email and posting infrastructure have bogged down in the sheer volume. And as I investigate better working and up-to-date email and posting systems, I realize the expense of offering a quality blog communication program is substantial. I now understand that these early solutions, like FeedBurner, although serving their initial purpose, were not intended to sustain constant expansion.
So before making a significant investment maintaining the status quo, I have wondered whether those who have been receiving my automated blog posts and emails on a daily basis over the past decade are still interested and engaged.
After much prayer and meditation, I believe it is time for this blog to grow-up and flourish, to see if its current, along with its potential audience might find an increased spiritual benefit and value from a more in-depth and comprehensive blog offering; not only augmenting and expanding on the traditional daily posts, but promoting an interactive environment: offering both collective/group and individual/one on one opportunities to explore, grow, pray, meditate, learn, and enhance an individual's quest for a positive spirituality.
I now imagine the Finding God On The Train blog acting as a spiritual hub, a virtual community of quest minded seekers connected in an interactive spiritual experience. The message of Finding God On The Trian has always been to encourage a personal connection, communication, and relationship with God; thus establishing an individualized approach to spirituality that fits the seekers need, not a prescribed dogma, religious liturgy, or the expectation of church elders.
Likewise, this connection does not require a priest, pastor, shaman, prophet, or messenger as a go-between, or any director of the seekers' action. This said I envision taking on a more active role participating in this interaction, as a fellow seeker and someone with a framework to offer for these personal quests.
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THE FGOTT MEMBERSHIP/SUBSCRIPTION
WHAT IS THE COST?_________________________________________________________
I am offering a single, inclusive, paid membership option as explained below, reflecting the true costs of providing the service for a subscription process for a flat rate of $25.00 per month.
THE FGOTT MONTHLY MEMBERSHIP
The FGOTT MONTHLY MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTION is a comprehensive offering focused on direct access to the FGOTT blogs and daily content as it is published on the FGOTT Member Site Blog, including full password-restricted access to the FGOTT Membership TypePad blog and includes:
Full password-protected access to the newly created NOTES ON ENLIGHTENMENT - The FGOTT QUEST CONTINUES membership site, along with full and guaranteed access to the original Finding God On The Train - Notes On Enlightenment blog site.
Affirmative Thought For The Day blog posts published daily, 365 days per year.
Biweekly New Thought Notes For The Day posts published on Tuesday and Friday of each week.
Direct personal email of all blog posts as published through the FGOTT Email service - Constant Contact. No other email services will be supported.
A web-based Membership Quarterly Q and A/ Open discussion Forum with G. Bryant Cronk, available to all active members who register for the event. The schedule, as it is determined, will be listed on the Membership Site Events tab.
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THE MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTION PROCESS
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One of my main goals associated with this move to a private blog site has been to counteract, what I have recently perceived as a haphazard and laissez-faire approach, on my part, as to who was using, benefiting from, and finding value from the blog. Often lately, it has been as if I send my message into the void, never sure of its worth or eventual impact.
Email services, such as FeedBurner, sent my posts to an anonymous community, one I could not even email or communicate with directly. Listing posts on Facebook and Twitter have become even less interactive. The central feature of the evolution of this blog is the requirement of all members to complete a contact profile, a verifiable email, and be identified on site by a username and password when receiving and accessing content. This will allow, I hope, those who join the community to have the option to participate, share, and possibly commune if they feel so inclined.
To do this securely in our modern age requires the use of established sites and services that are organized to build and promote a member-based community. It turns out that the blog service provider WordPress.com has focused on this access and management of blog Management, establishing relationships with strong service providers who create the software to make this happen on their sites.
Although I have had no desire to leave TypePad, I decided I would build a Membership Management and email communication platform on WordPress, that would guide potential members through the sign-up process, establish email communication protocols, ensure daily posts are delivered as expected, handle the payment and tracking of subscriptions, and assign and track passwords to be used on the companion FGOTT blog sites.
https://findgodonthetrainmembershipsite.com/
The link for this WordPress.com membership site is your first step towards becoming a member, also accessible by clicking on the FGOTT MEMBERSHIP tab on this sites Navigation Bar. This membership registration site is created to guide you through the process now, and in the future will assist in explaining and amplifying member services.
As a private, members-only blog, each subscriber will gain access to the new Typepad member site by registering, completing all required contact information, having their email verified, and arranging payment for their monthly subscription through PayPal.
All interested subscribers are required to fully complete the Membership Contact Information Form on the FGOTT Membership site located on WordPress.
THE REQUIRED INFORMATION TO BE COLLECTED AT THE TIME INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING:
DATE OF SIGN-UP
FIRST AND LAST NAME
CITY AND COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
ZIP CODE
EMAIL ADDRESS WHICH WILL ALSO SERVE AS YOUR FGOTT USERNAME GOING FORWARD
APPROVED MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
TOPICS OR AREAS OF INTEREST FGOTT SHOULD CONSIDER INCORPORATING
BIO INFO TO HELP US GET TO KNOW YOU? PLEASE SHARE YOUR QUEST
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YOUR MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION - PAYING WITH PAYPAL
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To ensure that these payments and handled with security and confidence, G DOT PUBLISHING has contracted with PayPal to process these payments. We will review this process shortly.All monthly payments will be presented for payment through PayPal.
- Subscription payments will automatically renew useless the membership is canceled.
- Please note that subscription cancellations will require full payment of the current month. So please be thoughtful when making your subscription decision.
FOLLOW THESE STEPS:
Click on the PayPal Subscription Button.
Determine if you wish to use a credit card, your existing PayPal account, or set up a PayPal a direct monthly payment from your bank account.
Follow the Payment Instructions as listed by PayPal.
Once this is processed your subscription is on-going until you UNSUBSCRIBE by returning to this on his site.
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YOU WILL RECEIVE EMAIL NOTIFICATION OF YOUR SUCCESSFUL REGISTRATION ALONG WITH THE CONFIRMATION OF YOUR PAYPAL SUBSCRIPTION PAYMENT FROM OUR NEW EMAIL SERVICE - CONSTANT CONTACT.
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In this email, you will be asked to confirm that you have actually completed this process and want to participate.
THIS EMAIL WILL CONFIRM YOUR USER EMAIL AND PASSWORD, BOTH REQUIRED FOR LOGINING INTO the TypePad NOTES ON ENLIGHTENMENT - THE QUEST CONTINUES member blog site.
A link will be provided to this site along with instructions for your first sign on and a tutorial for getting the most from the blog.
AFTER YOUR FIRST SUCCESSFUL SIGN ON YOU WILL RECEIVE A WELCOME EMAIL WITH GUIDANCE ON MAXIMIZING YOUR FGOTT EXPERIENCE.
For me, Finding God On The Train - Notes On Enlightenment has been a wonderful spiritual adventure and I am so grateful to have been able to enter into your life and travel this path with you.
I realize that some of you may decide to detrain and I respect your decision. For you who do, I wish you the best in your future spiritual journey, knowing in my heart and soul that wherever you travel - you are not alone!
For those who continue on, I will do my best to make the next ten years as worthwhile as the past ten years.
I thank you for joining this adventure with me and the emerging Finding God On The Train - N0tes On Enlightenment community.
WITH LOVE, G.
FOR ASSISTANCE, QUESTIONS, ISSUES, OR COMMENTS
PLEASE CONTACT US AT
GDOT PUBLISHING VENTURES LLC VIA THE CONTACT
INFO OFFERED BELOW:
gdotpublishing@gmail.com
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